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Women's Volleyball Tyler Madsen, AMR Assistant Director

Volleyball Notes: #15 Bulldogs Head West for Colorado Premier

(#15 AVCA) Truman Volleyball Weekly Notes (Matches 5-8)
Truman at Colorado Premier Challenge (Hosted by Regis & Metro State; Denver, CO)
 
Full Notes (PDF)
Match #5:
#15 Truman (3-1) vs. Florida Southern (3-1) – at Metro State
Date: Friday, September 13 (4:30 PM CDT)
Live Stats: http://www.sidearmstats.com/mscd/wvball2/
Series Record: Truman leads, 2-1
Last Meeting: Truman won, 3-2, on Sept. 15, 2007 (Maryville, Mo.)
 
Match #6:
#15 Truman (3-1) vs. #4 Concordia-St. Paul (4-1) – at Metro State
Date: Friday, September 13 (8:00 PM CDT)
Live Stats: http://www.sidearmstats.com/mscd/wvball2/
Series Record: Concordia-St. Paul leads, 3-1
Last Meeting: Concordia-St. Paul won, 3-0, on Sept. 12, 2008 (St. Paul, Minn.)

Match #7:
#15 Truman (3-1) vs. Pool 4 TBD – at TBD
Date: Saturday, September 14 (1:00 PM CDT)
Live Stats: TBD

Match #8:
#15 Truman (3-1) vs. TBD – at TBD
Date: Saturday, September 14 (TBD)
Live Stats: TBD

Pool 1 Pool 2 Pool 3 Pool 4
#4 Concordia-St. Paul #1 Tampa #14 SW Minnesota #3 Nebraska-Kearney
#15 Truman #9 West Texas A&M #17 West Florida #11 Angelo State
Florida Southern #21 Regis RV – Adams State RV – Metro State
 
Social Media: @TrumanAthletics || @TrumanVB || #TSUGameDay

Opening Serve:
The nation's most prestigious regular season tournament opens its doors to the Truman volleyball program this weekend, as the Bulldogs will make an appearance at the Colorado Premier Challenge this Friday and Saturday on the campuses of Regis University and Metro State University in Denver.
 
Competing in the Challenge for the first time since 2003, the 15th-ranked Bulldogs enter one of the most loaded fields in event history. Nine of the top 21 teams in this week's AVCA Division II top-25 coaches' poll will be present, with all 12 teams having made an NCAA tournament appearance a year ago.
 
Truman will play two matches on each day, with pool play taking place on Friday before bracket play begins on Saturday afternoon. The Bulldogs were slotted into pool 1, which sets the squad up for matches against Florida Southern at 4:30 p.m. (CT) and six-time defending national champion and fourth-ranked Concordia-St. Paul at 8:00 p.m. (CT) on Friday.
 
From there, the tournament gets re-seeded, with the top team from each of the four pools advancing to the "gold" bracket, the second-place team designated to the "silver" bracket, and the third-place team sent to the "bronze" bracket. Truman will face either Nebraska-Kearney, Metro State, or Angelo (Texas) State at 1:00 p.m. (CT) on Saturday, before finishing the event later that day.
 
The Bulldogs are coming off a 3-1 opening weekend at the GVSU Grand Rapids Classic, where the squad rebounded from an opening-match loss to then-No. 6 Southwest Minnesota State to defeat Saint Leo (Fla.), Eckerd (Fla.), and Adelphi (N.Y.). Only Truman and Wayne (Mich.) State pulled off a 3-1 mark during the tournament, resulting in a co-championship between the schools since they did not meet.
 
Following the Bulldogs:
Full coverage of Truman volleyball is available online at TrumanBulldogs.com, including results, upcoming match information and weekly updates.
 
When available, links to free online live stats are added to the Bulldog volleyball schedule page as well as the top of each weekly update.
 
Keep up with the Bulldogs by tracking in-match updates (when available). Follow Truman Athletics on Twitter (@TrumanAthletics). Also be sure to sign up for Text Caster and Newsletter updates on the TrumanBulldogs.com homepage.
 
Brak Grabs First GLVC Weekly Honor:
Junior Allie Brak was named the Great Lakes Valley Conference's Baden Offensive Player of the Week on Monday after averaging 4.19 kills per set and serving seven aces last weekend.
 
Brak, a two-time Athlete of the Week last season in the MIAA, started all four matches and played all 16 sets in last weekend's GVSU Grand Rapids Classic. On the weekend, the outside hitter hit .269, averaging 4.19 kills and 1.69 digs per set. She recorded her third career 20+ kill match, going 20-7-49 (.265) in a five-set win against Saint Leo (Fla.) on Friday. Brak also served five aces in that match, tying a career-best.
 
A native of The Colony, Texas, Brak averaged more than four kills per set in every match but the team's five-set win against Adelphi (N.Y.), where she totaled 17 kills in the five sets. She added 10 digs in that contest for her 30th career double-double.
 
Bulldogs Up One in Top-25:
The first AVCA Div. II top-25 coaches' poll to be released since early in the preseason came out on Monday, and the Bulldogs found themselves up one spot to No. 15 with 498 total points.
 
Truman has now been in the top-25 164 total times, good for 17th-most all-time in NCAA Div. II history. The Bulldogs are closing in on Northern Colorado's mark of 172 for 16th place.
 
99 Wins in the Books for Coach B, 99 Wins in the Books…:
Head coach Ben Briney needs just one more victory to become only the fourth coach in Truman volleyball history to reach 100 career victories on the sideline. His .697 winning percentage is third-best all-time, with the coach having totaled 236 total wins (.786 winning percentage) at Truman spanning his nine total seasons at Truman (fifth as head coach, four previous as top assistant).
 
Challenge History:
This weekend marks just the second time that Truman has attended the Colorado Premier Challenge, with the least appearance coming in the 2003 season. The Bulldogs were paired in a pool with Mesa State and West Texas A&M, where the purple and white earned two wins on day one to advance to the "gold" bracket.
 
From there, Truman was dealt a pair of 3-0 setbacks on day two, falling to Metro State in the semifinals before losing the third-place match to now-Division I Northern Colorado. Jessica Sears was named to the all-tournament team for Truman.
 
This time around, it's West Texas A&M's title to defend, as the Buffs swept Central Missouri and Metro State on day one last season before defeating West Florida in the semifinals and Tamps in the championship.
 
Checking the Career Charts:
Junior setter Meghan Zimmerman surpassed Kylie Easlon on the all-time career assist chart last weekend, moving up to eighth all-time with 2,103 through two-plus seasons. Next in line is Rachel Shedd, whose seventh-place mark of 2,442 was attained from 2000-2003. Sixth-place is just 28 assists beyond that, as Nancy Hoerner holds that slot at 2,470 from 1987-1990.
 
Meanwhile, junior libero Abby Moser needs just eight digs to reach the all-time top ten in that category, as her 1,296 total is right on the heels of Janelle Zehr's mark of 1,304 – set from 1997-2000. She is also just one behind Zehr in all-time double-figure dig matches, as her 63 trails Zehr's 8th-best mark of 64.
 
Moser is already the program leader in matches with 20 or more digs (29), is tied for the program-high with 30 or more digs in a match (3), and sits atop the digs per set category at 4.82.
 
Up Next:
The GLVC regular season gets underway next weekend for Truman, as the Bulldogs travel to a pair of East division foes on Saturday and Sunday to kick off conference action. Truman will take on Lewis (Ill.) on Saturday, September 21 before finishing the two-night trip at Wisconsin-Parkside on Sunday, September 22.

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